How to fix Docker Desktop is not running in Docker

The simplest fix is to launch Docker Desktop:

On Windows:
1. Click the Windows Start menu
2. Type "Docker Desktop" and click the application
3. Wait for the whale icon to appear in the system tray
4. The icon animates while starting - wait until it becomes solid

On macOS:
1. Open Finder and navigate to Applications
2. Double-click "Docker.app"
3. Wait for the whale icon to appear in the menu bar

Using terminal (Windows PowerShell):

Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Docker Desktop.exe"

Using terminal (macOS):

open -a Docker

After starting Docker Desktop, confirm it's operational:

docker version

You should see both Client and Server sections in the output. If only Client appears, Docker is still starting or failed to start.

Run a simple test:

docker run hello-world

If successful, Docker is fully operational.

To prevent this issue after reboots, configure Docker Desktop to start automatically:

1. Open Docker Desktop
2. Click the gear icon (Settings)
3. In the "General" section, enable "Start Docker Desktop when you sign in"
4. Click "Apply & Restart"

This ensures Docker Desktop launches during login, so the daemon is always available.

If Docker Desktop is starting but commands still fail, it may not be fully initialized:

On Windows/macOS:
- Look at the Docker Desktop whale icon
- If it's animated (moving), Docker is still starting
- Wait until the icon becomes static

Using CLI to wait:

# This command will block until Docker is ready
docker info > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "Docker is ready" || echo "Docker is not ready"

Typical startup time: 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on system resources.

If stuck on "Docker Desktop Starting..." for more than 5 minutes, see the troubleshooting steps below.

If Docker Desktop appears running but commands fail, try restarting it:

Using the system tray/menu bar:
1. Right-click the Docker whale icon
2. Select "Restart"

On Windows (kill and restart):

# Kill Docker Desktop processes
Stop-Process -Name "Docker Desktop" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Stop-Process -Name "com.docker.backend" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Restart Docker Desktop
Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Docker Desktop.exe"

On macOS (kill and restart):

# Kill Docker processes
pkill -f "Docker Desktop"
pkill -f "com.docker"

# Restart Docker Desktop
open -a Docker

On Windows, Docker Desktop uses WSL2 by default. WSL issues can prevent Docker from starting:

# Update WSL to the latest version
wsl --update

# Shut down all WSL instances
wsl --shutdown

# Verify WSL distros
wsl -l -v

You should see "docker-desktop" and "docker-desktop-data" distributions. If missing:

# Reinstall Docker Desktop to recreate WSL distros

For WSL 2.5.7 compatibility issues:
Some users report Docker Desktop fails with WSL 2.5.7. Update to the latest Docker Desktop version (4.42+) to resolve this.

Docker Desktop requires hardware virtualization:

Windows - Check in Task Manager:
1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager
2. Go to the "Performance" tab
3. Look for "Virtualization: Enabled"

macOS - Virtualization is always available on supported Macs

If virtualization shows Disabled:
1. Restart your computer
2. Enter BIOS/UEFI (usually F2, F12, Del, or Esc during boot)
3. Find "Intel VT-x", "Intel Virtualization Technology", "AMD-V", or "SVM Mode"
4. Enable the setting
5. Save and exit BIOS

Windows - Enable required features:

# Run in elevated PowerShell
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

Restart Windows after enabling features.

If Docker Desktop keeps failing to start, reset it:

1. Open Docker Desktop (if possible)
2. Click the gear icon (Settings)
3. Go to "Troubleshoot" section
4. Click "Reset to factory defaults"

Warning: This removes ALL containers, images, volumes, and settings.

Before resetting, backup important images:

docker save my-image:tag -o my-image-backup.tar

If Docker Desktop won't open, delete the settings file manually:

Windows:

Remove-Item "$env:APPDATA\Docker\settings.json" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

macOS:

rm ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker/settings.json

Then restart Docker Desktop.

As a last resort, perform a clean reinstall:

Windows:
1. Uninstall Docker Desktop via Settings > Apps
2. Remove leftover data:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:APPDATA\Docker" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Docker" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:PROGRAMDATA\Docker" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:PROGRAMDATA\DockerDesktop" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
wsl --unregister docker-desktop
wsl --unregister docker-desktop-data

3. Restart Windows
4. Download and install Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/

macOS:
1. Drag Docker.app to Trash
2. Remove leftover data:

rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker
rm -rf ~/.docker

3. Download and install Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/